Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson

Page 8
FRIENDS’ School of English News
FRIENDS’
School of English
First bilingual newspaper in Almirante Brown
News
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson
Born 13 May 1986, is an English
actor, model, musician, and producer. Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of
Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter
and the Goblet of Fire. Later, he
landed the leading role of Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels by
Stephenie Meyer, and came to
worldwide international fame.
Pattinson was ranked as one of
the highest paid actors in Hollywood based on 2009 earnings.
In 2010, Pattinson was named
one of TIME magazine's 100
Most Influential People in The
World, and also in the same year
Forbes ranked him as one of the
most powerful celebrities in the
world in the Forbes Celebrity 100.
Early life
Pattinson was born in London.
His mother, Clare, worked for a
modelling agency, and his father,
Richard, imported vintage cars
from the U.S. Pattinson has two
elder sisters, singer Lizzy Pattinson, and Victoria Pattinson.
Growing up in the Barnes suburb of London, he attended Tower House School until he was
12, and then The Harrodian
School. He became involved in
amateur theatre at the Barnes
Theatre Company. He auditioned and was cast in a small role
in Guys and Dolls. He next auditioned for Thornton Wilder's
Our Town and was cast as
George Gibbs. He also played in
Anything Goes and Macbeth. He
caught the attention of an acting
agent in a production ofTess of
the d'Urbervilles and began looking for professional roles.
Modelling
Pattinson began modelling when
he was twelve years old, but the
number of jobs began to decrease only four years later. In
December 2008 he blamed the
lack of work as a model on his
masculine appearance: "When I
first started I was quite tall and
looked like a girl, so I got lots of
jobs, because it was during that
period where the androgynous
look was cool. Then, I guess, I
became too much of a guy, so I
never got any more jobs. I had
the most unsuccessful modelling
career. Pattinson appeared in the
advertising campaign for Hackett's autumn 2007 collection.
Acting
Pattinson had supporting roles
in the made for television film
Ring of the Nibelungs in 2004
and in director Mira Nair’sVanity
Fair, although his scenes in the
latter were deleted and only appear on the DVD version. In
May 2005, he was slated to appear in the UK premiere of The
Woman Before at the Royal
Court Theatre, but was fired
shortly before the opening night
and was replaced by Tom Riley.
Later that year he played Cedric
Diggory in Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire. For this role he
was named that year's British Star
of Tomorrow by The Times. He
has more than once been touted
as the next Jude Law.
Pattinson played Edward Cullen
in the film Twilight, based on
Stephenie Meyer's best-selling
novel of the same name, which
was released on 21 November
2008 in North America.
According to TV Guide, Pattinson was initially apprehensive
about auditioning for the role of
Edward Cullen, fearful that he
would not be able to live up to
the "perfection" expected from
the character. He reprised his
role as Edward Cullen in the
Twilight sequels The Twilight
Saga: New Moon andThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which was released 30 June 2010.
Pattinson had lead roles in the feature films Little Ashes (in which he
plays Salvador Dalí), How to Be (a
British comedy), and the short film
The Summer House.
In 2009, Pattinson presented at the
81st Academy Awards. On 10 November, Revolver Entertainment re-
leased the DVD Robsessed, a documentary which details Pattinson's life
and popularity.
In 2010, Pattinson executively
produced and starred in the film
Remember Me, which was released on 12 March 2010. On 13
May 2010, Pattinson appeared
onThe Oprah Winfrey Show for
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and
also made an appearance on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show on 18
May, which aired the following
day. Pattinson attended the official worldwide red carpet premiere for The Twilight Saga:
Eclipse on 24 June 2010 at the
Los Angeles Nokia Theatre. In
2011, he starred in Water for
Elephants, a film adaptation of
the Sara Gruen novel of the
same name, with Christoph
Waltz and Reese Witherspoon.
He will play Georges Duroy in a
film adaptation of the 1885 novel Bel Ami, with Uma Thurman, which will be released in
2011. He will also appear in a
theatre production for producer
David Pugh.
Music
Pattinson plays guitar and piano,
and composes his own music.
He also appears as the singer of
two songs on the Twilight
soundtrack: "Never Think",
which he co-wrote with Sam
Bradley, and "Let Me Sign",
which was written by Marcus
Foster and Bobby Long. The
songs were included in the film
after director Catherine Hardwicke added Pattinson's recordings
into an early cut without his
knowledge, and he agreed that
"one of them specifically, it really made the scene better. It was
like it was supposed to be there."
The soundtrack for the film
How to Be features three original songs performed by Pattinson and written by composer Joe
Hastings.
Aside from recording for the
soundtracks, Pattinson has said,
"I've never really recorded anything – I just played in pubs and
stuff", and when asked about a
professional music career, he
said, "Music is my back-up plan
if acting fails." In 2010, Pattinson was awarded the 'Hollywood's Most Influential Top
Unexpected Musicians' award.
Nunca un general debe mostrarse parco en la alabanza cuando es merecida. A la gente le gusta el elogio
cuando se lo ha ganado. En relación con esto, sir Winston Churchill me habló una vez de la contestación que
dio el duque de Wellington, en sus últimos años, cuando un amigo le preguntó: "Si volvieses a vivir otra vez,
¿hay algo que podrías hacer mejor?" Y el anciano duque replicó: "Si, dispensaría más elogios."
Historia del arte de la guerra, Mariscal Montgomery, Vizconde de Alamein, Aguilar, 1969
Dr. Fernando J. I. Jijena Sánchez
Cerreti 1201 - Adrogué
Tel: 4294 - 7830
Teléfono 4219-2007
20 DE SEPTIEMBRE 1518
RAFAEL CALZADA
Médico Psiquiatra
Macías 500, esq. Canale Adrogué
Turnos 4214- 0726
FRIENDS’
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28th. issue
FouNDED MaRcH 2001
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First bilingual newspaper in Almirante Brown
Riding along
This year I decided to visit my
sister and her husband in Wilmington, in the State of Delaware in the USA, as I have often
done during my winter holidays.
Because their place of residence
is as familiar to me as Adrogué,
we thought of doing something
different from what we had
done in the past. Their neighboring country of Canada was the
place of choice for our trip; so
with suitcases in the boot, and
bicycles well secured to the car
rack, our adventure started.
From the moment we made the
decision of taking the bikes with
us, I became very excited with
the idea of touring new places in
such a simple means of transportation. I even thought we
would be limited to riding on
bicycle trails, as riding in such
large cities as Ottawa and Montreal wouldn' be easy. Was I proven wrong!
We left Wilmington early in the
morning and drove to Skaneateles, a small town in New York
State. This town is located on
the northeast corner of the
Finger Lakes, a district formed
by many lakes near the border
between USA and Canada. Once
we left our luggage in the Bed
and Breakfast, where we would
spend the night, and ate a simple
lunch, we mounted our bikes
and off we went. I remember
being so happy looking at beautiful landscapes, lovely old houses with flowery gardens, the
lake, the people who passed by
and said "hello", or stopped walking to let us go by, that I forgot
that it was the hottest summer
day Skaneateles had had in many
years. While we were riding
along the lake's coast we found
out about touring boat rides on
the lake. Seeing the enthusiasm
that my sister and brother in law
had about this opportunity, I
went along with the idea while at
the same time thinking "where
shall we leave our bikes?" There
were no bicycle racks near the
marina, only benches and one
lamp post. My brother in law
convinced me the bikes would
be secure just leaning against the
lamp post with only the bike
lock around them. After a long
hot but pleasant boat ride, I was
marvelled to see our only means
of transportation for the next
two hours, still tied to the post
and safe. Nobody had even paid
attention to the lonely bikes.
The next day we arrived in
Ottawa just after lunch, left
our luggage in yet another Bed
and Breakfast, and took our
bikes to begin the neighbourhood "reconnaissance". This
time we decided to go to "The
Canal". Everybody ignores its
real name "Rideau" and just
call it "The Canal". Like many
other man made canals in the
world, this one has locks
where boats and yachts have to
wait in one lock until water
flows from another in order to
continue their journey. It was
very interesting to witness
such a simple, and at the same
time complex, procedure.
In Ottawa many people use their
bikes to move around. There are
bicycle trails all over the city.
Traffic and pedestrians pay great
attention to them and you can
see people riding their own bikes
or rented ones taken from bicycle stations in different parts of
the city. In summer or when the
weather is not very cold, people
prefer to ride a bike rather than
take a bus, use their car or take a
taxi. If they are near one of the
stations they just slide their credit card at the meter, take a bike
and then return it to the same
place or another station in the
Director: María Cristina Maggi
Editor: Patricia A. Mársico
Diseñador: Santiago Martinez
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.friendsadrogue.com.ar
Propietario: María Cristina Maggi
Registro de la propiedad intelectual en trámite.
FRIENDS´School of English - Adrogué
city. You can see people going to
work, going shopping or just for
a ride wherever you are in the
city. Many shops have bicycle
racks on the sidewalks for the
customers convenience, and if
there aren't any, you can always
leave your bike tied up to a railing, a tree or a pole. Nobody
complains, education and good
manners prevail. I couldn't believe what I was experiencing, I
could go anywhere in the city,
park my bike, visit a museum, a
university, a shopping mall, or a
park without breaking the law or
inconveniencing anybody. I am
sure Canadians do not only use
their bikes to save gasoline but
to save the environment as well.
It is true you see more cars after
the sun goes down, but during
the day people move around in
two wheels!
After two days of sightseeing in
Ottawa we once again hauled
our bikes on the car and rode to
Montreal. Once there I experienced the same sense of safety.
I did not feel afraid of the traffic
while riding along avenues and
busy streets. I saw nobody falling off a bike, or a car accident
caused by a bicycle rider. Going
out to lunch and leaving our
bicycles outside the restaurant
FRIENDS’ School of English News
postal address
Queremos agradecer a todos
adrogué: Spiro 992 (1846)
con tanto cariño y desinterés
Telephone/Fax: 4293-2988 / 4214-3675
R. calzada: Av. San Martín 2929
Telephone/Fax: 4291-0081
Buenos Aires - Argentina
aQuellos colaboradores Que
escribieron artículos
y compartieron notas
con nosotros .
turned out to be a normal thing
to do, and we weren't the only
ones to do it. One of the highlights of walkers, runners, and
bicycle riders alike, is to reach the
summit of Mont Royal. This very
high "hill" at the edge of town
commands a spectacular view of
the city. Reaching the top on our
bikes took us almost two hours,
descending it took only ten minutes. What an experience!
Something that called my attention was that we weren't obliged
to wear helmets. Some people
did, some didn't. However, I saw
no child without one, which
makes me believe there is a law
against not wearing a helmet
under certain age. I was thrilled
to see everybody complying with
traffic regulations and being so
civilized! Everywhere I went people looked happy, which in turn
made me happy because I was
getting to know many places in a
fraction of the time it would
have taken to walk, wait in line
to take a bus, or hale a taxi. I felt
great because I was exercising
and doing what all Canadians do
every day. How I long to do the
same in my hometown!
Maria Cristina Maggi
FRIENDS` Director
What’S InSIDE
MIScEllaNEouS
P.6
* El lENguAjE MAlvAvISCo.
MIScEllaNEouS
* CoSPlAY.
P.7
Page 2
STUDENTS CORNER
FRIENDS’ School of English News
Apresentando-me
Eu me chamo Marina, tenho dezenove anos e sou argentina.
Não estou trabalhando no momento, estudo administrasão
hoteleira já faz dois anos.
Em meu tempo livre eu gosto muito de sair com minhas
amigas, escutar música e ir ao cinema.
Sou muito alta e magra. Meu cabelo é liso, preto e agora
está comprido. Meus olhos são pretos e minha boca é grande.
Sobre meu temperamento eu posso dizer que sou comunicativa, divertida, muito responsável e,sobretudo, muito sincera.
Eu gostaria de arrumar uma pessoa alto astral, ativa,
inteletual e, muito importante, que seja bem humorada.
Encontro atrente os homes mais altos que eu, magros, com
narizes protuberantes, cabelos lisos e curtos.
Espero encontrar meu parperfeito!
Marina Rapela (1º ano)
Aluno de FRIENDS’
Meu nome é Mariel, sou estudante do 2º ano de
português do Instituto Friend`s. Eu gosto muito
deste idioma por isso, no ano passado, comecei a
tomar aulas.
No curso pudemos aprender coisas interessantes.
Além das conjugações verbais aprendemos sobre
os falsos amigos, palavras que são iguais que em
espanhol mas significam coisas diferentes.
Aprendemos a fazer convites, contar sobre nossas
atividades e muitas coisas mais.
Mas o que é mais difícil para mim e estudar os
verbos. Porém, agora eu posso escutar música,
assistir filmes e entender o que dizem, eu posso
falar um pouco mais. Portanto estou muito feliz
de poder alcançar meus objetivos.
Mariel Balietti (2º ano)
Aluno de FRIENDS´
Oi, meu nome é Victor e meu apelido é Ianque.
eu tenho 10 anos. sou americano, estou na
quinta série . falo 3 línguas : inglês, espanhol,
e estou aprendendo português. eu amo jogar
rúgbi e futebol .
Eu tenho 3 irmãos , um cachorro , 2 coelhos
e um pássaro e eu nasci em 12 de outubro de
2000. Eu amo todos os tipos de alimentos.
Victor Salas (1 o ano)
Aluno de FRIENDS´
GIMNASIO - NATACIÓN - PLATAFORMA VIBRATORIA
FRIENDS’ School of English News
STUDENTS CORNER
Page 3
Adrogué
Review
Adrogué is a beautiful town in the south of Buenos Aires City.
The means of transport are quite good; the train is very fast but it
is too crowded and dirty.
The "Casa de la Cultura" is an attractive and interesting art gallery
on Esteban Adrogué Street, next to "Colegio Nacional".
There are some famous buildings like "La Cucaracha", "Castel
Forte" and "San Gabriel Church".
Adrogué is really cool.
You can´t miss it.
Visit us!!
Belén Saralegui, Nico Biotti, Agustín Schulz and Marcos Rey
6th grade
FRIENDS´ Students
"Hogar el Alba" is a Christian home that takes
care of children whose rights have been
violated. Some of them, don't have a mother,
a father, or a guardian specially for them.
Others have someone, but maybe this person
cannot give the children the basic things they
need, such as food or education.
The home has two programs, two ways in
which they help these children.
On the one hand, there is the Aldea program.
Children live at "Hogar el Alba" in four different houses which are very similar to a home.
On the other hand, the Albores program.
Here children sleep at their house and during
the day, they go to the home where they study,
eat and play, They can study at the "Tambo
Escuela", beekeeping, baking or cooking. Also,
they can study at the orchard or the kitchen.
William Case Morris was the home founder.
He was born in England in 1864, and founded
the Hogar el Alba in 1925. He took care of
orphan or homeless children.
The "Hogar el Alba" is a place where children,
(after a difficult childhood ), can enjoy and see
life with another perspective. There are many
people working for them, and people can help
in many ways.Though a home is never a nice
place to be at, they do as much as possible to
make them happy.
more information at www.hogarelalba.org
by Keila Fafulas
6th year teens (14 years old)
FRIENDS´ Student
Autoradio
Autoradio Adrogué
Adrogué
AV. ESPORA 1185
TEL. 5265-2111
(1846) ADROGUE
E-mail: [email protected]
www.autoradioadrogue.com.ar
AUDIO
ALARMAS: AUTOS-MOTOS
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CALEFACCIÓN
POLARIZADOS
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originales y universales
CIERRES CENTRALIZADOS
FRIENDS’
FRIENDS’
EXÁMENES FCE
MATRÍCULAS
2012
ALEM, Federico
DEVOTO, Matías
BARMASCH, Eugenia
ZORZOLI, Nicolás
15% de descuento
abonando en 2011
School of English
Aprobados Junio 2011:
School of English
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MISCELLANEOUS
FRIENDS’ School of English News
Vacaciones de Semana Santa
El sol se derramó por la ventanilla y el niño se despertó, acunado en brazos de su padre. Los
movimientos rítmicos del tren le
recordaban una rima que acababa de aprender: Erre con erre
guitarra, erre con erre carril, rápido ruedan las ruedas del ferrocarril. Se quedó quieto sintiendo
el calor del cuerpo de su padre.
Lo miró fijo. Los ojos del padre
se abrieron y debajo de ellos una
sonrisa dulce le expandió la cara.
-“Buen día Bocha” dijo, quedó,
como para no despertar a su
mujer que dormía a su lado.
El niño se desperezó y preguntó:
-“¿Falta mucho?”.
El padre sonrió, la madre abrió
los ojos. Ella contestó:
-“Unas horas. ¿Ya tenés hambre?”
El niño asintió con la cabeza. El
padre miró el reloj.
-“En media hora abren el come-
dor. Tenemos el primer turno
para el desayuno.”
El niño bostezó.
Para entretenerlo, el padre comenzó a describir el paisaje.
-“¿Ves? Ese ganado vive acá
desde hace quinientos años. Los
primeros llegaron con Mendoza.
Eran un toro y seis vacas. Los indios no los comieron, así que se
volvieron millones. De a poco,
los criollos fuimos empujando a
los indios hacia el sur y el oeste,
y entonces el ganado comenzó a
ser explotado. La pampa era territorio libre, sin alambrados.”.
La mirada del niño recorría la
pradera infinita, recogiendo una
cortina de eucaliptos en una
parte, un ranchito en otra. Entre
los accidentes del paisaje la pampa era un sinfín de pastos con
toros, vacas y alguna oveja sirviendo de puntuación.
El niño preguntó:
-“¿Cuándo empezaron a alambrar, papi?”
El padre se acomodó en el asiento.
-“Cuando llegaron los agricultores. Los primeros fueron a Tandil, donde vamos hoy.”
-“¿Tandil? ¿Qué quiere decir
Tandil?”
El padre sonrió. Miró por la ventanilla los cerros que aparecían.
-“Antes, hace muchos años, los
ranqueles vivían acá. Después,
los araucanos los echaron. Cuando los araucanos armaron sus
tiendas, llegaron los hombres
blancos. Al principio era sólo un
fuerte, defendiendo la frontera
de los ataques de los indios, pero
cuando llegaron los daneses y
pusieron un molino para hacer
harina del trigo, los de acá se dieron cuenta que su modo de vida,
comiendo terneros y siguiendo a
la tropilla donde fuera, se acababa. Entonces dijeron: -‘Ta-an-diíl.’ Que quiere decir, huyamos de
aquí. Y los blancos, que los escuchábamos al juntar sus tropillas y
sus mujeres, pensamos que así llamaban ellos a ese lugar. Y le decimos, desde entonces, Tandil.”
- “Gracias, papi” suspiró Bocha,
y se volvió a dormir.
La madre miró a su marido con
reproche. Él le guiñó un ojo como toda respuesta. El sol se filtró entre las ramas de un ombú y
las luces del amanecer repiquetearon en las paredes del vagón.
un resfriado”, “tenía picazón por
conocerte”. Decir “tienda” en
vez de “carpa” o elegir el “tuteo” en lugar del “voceo”–según
Ciapuscio– son elecciones no
neutras. El español es una lengua
pluricéntrica, lo que significa que
hay distintas normas regionales,
es decir, diferentes focos (por
ejemplo, México, Buenos Aires,
Madrid, Lima). Cada lugar determina ciertos usos estándares de
la lengua que son percibidos por
los hablantes como adecuados y
correctos.
Esta situación, lejos de interferir
en la formación de la identidad
regional de los niños, la fortalece. “Así aprenden que una misma cosa puede ser nombrada de
diferentes maneras. Lo importante es que tengan, como res-
paldo, una explicación de adultos y maestros”, apunta Kijek.
Ciapuscio está convencida de
que “las diferencias lingüísticas
deben aprovecharse para trabajar
en la escuela, para fortalecer la
identidad del niño con su propia
variedad (en nuestro caso, la lengua rioplatense), mostrándoles
los contrastes y haciéndolos
conscientes de la riqueza del español y de las peculiaridades de
su variedad frente a otras lenguas”. Que los niños “amplíen
su competencia lingüística y adquieran el sentido de diversidad
del español repercutirá en su
sensibilidad y flexibilidad para
aprender otras lenguas”, concluye la lingüista.
Jorge Boria
Austin, 2010.
In Memoriam, Jorge Di Paola.
El lenguaje Malvavisco
Cuando los chicos hablan como escuchan en la tele.
Hazme un pastel… pasteleerooo”. El niño(tres años y medio)
repite la frase que dice su perrito
de peluche cada vez que lo aprieta. Le fascina mirar a “Dora la exploradora” en la tele y, con ella, ya
aprendió que el “púrpura” –más
conocido como violeta– es uno
de sus colores preferidos.
Tomás tiene 7 años, y cada tanto
pide permiso a sus papás para
comer “goma de mascar” (no
chicle) o para invitar a algún
amiguito a jugar al “balón”. Casos como estos, en que los nenes
hablan con términos “extraños”
para los adultos, resultan cotidianos y –con mayor o menor frecuencia– se repiten en muchos
hogares, jardines de infantes o
primeros grados de la escuela.
Los especialistas hablan de una
“generación malvavisco”, en alusión a las clásicas golosinas del
Norte. Para los padres suele ser
llamativa esta aprehensión de expresiones propias del “español
neutro” que los chicos escuchan
y “copian” de personajes de la
tele. Aunque defensores del lenguaje, como la psicopedagoga
Andrea Kejek, consideran que
esta situación “aporta y suma a
lo largo del aprendizaje de la primera infancia y de toda la vida”.
“El hecho de que los niños estén
expuestos a distintas variedades
del español es beneficioso porque, de este modo, amplían su
competencia lingüística, enriquecen su vocabulario, aprenden las
diferencias tónicas, fonéticas,
morfosintácticas y todo esto les
permite familiarizarse con la diversidad que caracteriza a su
propia lengua”, opina Guiomar
Elena Ciapuscio, profesora titular de Lingüística en la Facultad
de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Buenos Aires.
Y agrega: “Lo que llamamos español ‘neutro’, fruto de los doblajes en los medios de comunicación, es del todo discutible” .
La catedrática sostiene que esa
neutralidad es imposible de lograr en un sentido estricto. “La
lengua de los dibujitos animados
exhibe gran variedad de rasgos.
Gran parte de los que consumen
nuestros chicos son doblajes de
México”, agrega.
Así, expresiones como “atrapar
Fuente: Diario Clarín
FRIENDS’ School of English News
MISCELLANEOUS
Page 7
FRIENDS´ Calzada Projects
At FRIENDS' Calzada we worked with three new projects during the month of June. These
were June 5th World Environment Day, June 10th Road Safety
Day and June 15th Book Day in
Argentina. Our students were encouraged to learn new vocabulary,
talk about these topics and give
ideas and solutions to the environmental problems such as lessening traffic accidents or promoting reading books.
This led to the creation of a Re-
cycling Campaign which is being
carried out in order to promote
the importance of looking after
the enviroment and be responsible for the daily actions.
with our students who we see as
individuals with rights, with the
possibility of working in the social enviroment and not only as
students of English.
In addition, the work of every
group was shown on the Institute
walls to be shared with other students and parents. We chose to
work with these dates to raise our
children´s consciousness about
the problems of society and how
to solve them working together.
This is part of our daily work
We wanted to share this with you
and invite you to participate in
our Recycling Campaign bringing
plastic, paper or cardboard and
helping us take care of our planet!
coinage reflects a common Japanese method of abbreviation in
which the first two moras of a
pair of words are used to form
an independent compound.
Costume becomes kosu (コス),
and play becomes pure (プレ)
marily done at manga and anime
conventions.
Cosplay at fan events likely originated in Japan in 1978. Cosplay
nevertheless gets a mixed reception in Japan even today. Events
in districts such as Akihabara
draw many cosplayers, yet there
is no shortage of people in
Japan who regard cosplay as a
frivolous endeavor.
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Friends’ Calzada Staff
Cosplay
Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure?),
short for "costume play", is a
type of performance art in
which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea.
Characters are often drawn from
popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and Sci-Fi. Favourite sources include manga,
anime, tokusatsu, comic books,
graphic novels, video games,
hentai and fantasy movies. Any
entity from the real or virtual
world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be
taken up as a subject. Inanimate
objects are given anthropomorphic forms and it is not unusual
to see genders switched, with
women playing male roles and
vice versa.
Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centred around
role play. A broader use of the
term cosplay applies it to any
costumed role play in venues
apart from the stage, regardless
of the cultural context.
Terminology
The term cosplay is a portmanteau of the English words costume and play. The term was
coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi
of the Japanese studio Studio
Hard while attending the 1984
Los Angeles Science Fiction
Worldcon. He was impressed by
the hall and the costumed fans
and reported on both in Japanese science fiction magazines. The
Practice of cosplay
Cosplayers typically come from
the ranks of otaku--that is, fans
of Japanese comic books,
known as manga. They gather at
public events such as comicbook and video game trade
shows, as well as at dedicated
cosplay parties at nightclubs or
amusement parks. In Japan
teenagers gather with like-minded friends in places like Tokyo's
Harajuku district to engage in
cosplay. Since 1998 Tokyo's Akihabara district has contained a
large number of cosplay cafés,
catering to devoted anime and
cosplay fans. The waitresses at
such cafés dress as game or
anime characters; maid costumes
are particularly popular. In areas
outside of Japan, cosplay is pri-
Costumes
Cosplay differs from Halloween
and Mardi Gras costume wear
not only in existing independent
of any particular holiday, but in
its goal. The object of cosplay is
interpretation: one attempts to
become one's character much as
a stage actor inhabits a role.
Costumes are expected to adhere meticulously to the attire
known to be worn by the character represented. Even more
generic costumes get an elaborately artistic treatment. Cosplayers may purchase or create costumes through fan labor.
Cosplayers often educate them-
selves in crafting specialities such
as sculpture, face paint, fibreglasswork, fashion design and
the like in the effort to render
the look and texture of a costume accurately.
Once in costume, cosplayers
often adopt the affect, mannerisms and body language of the
characters they portray (with
OOC or, "Out Of Character"
breaks). The cosplayers do this
because once they have that certain costume on, they feel and
act like the character that they
are dressed up as. Some Cosplayers prefer to snap into character
for photos with poses and
stunts, but otherwise remain fairly out of character.
Cosplayers often gather to view
the costumes of others, show
off their own creations, take pictures, share tips, and participate
in contests. This activity is maintained between major events
through participation in online
forums. Major events include
but are not limited to anime and
comic book conventions as well
as costume balls such as Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade.
Portraying a character of the opposite sex is "crossplay" while
portraying a character who dresses as the opposite sex (from
the cosplayer) is called "crossdress". Examples may serve to
clarify the distinction. A female
cosplayer representing a male
character who wears standard
masculine attire is both crossdressing and cross-playing. A fe-
Spiro 1037 - Adrogué
male cosplayer who dresses as a
male character who wears unisex
clothing or feminine attire is
crossplaying but not cross-dressing. A man portraying that same
character would be crossdressing
but not crossplaying.
Cosplay in Western culture
The popularity of cosplay in
Japan encourages the misconception that cosplay is specifically a Japanese or Asianhobby.
The term "cosplay", though
Japanese in origin, described a
phenomenon which was witnessed in the United States. For
almost fifty years, costuming has
had a widespread following and
continues to experience growing
popularity in North America and
Europe, and has more recently
spread throughout South Americaand Australia.
Western cosplay's origins are
based primarily on science fiction and historical fantasy as opposed to animation. It is more
common for Western cosplayers
to recreate characters from liveaction series such asStar Trek,
Star Wars, Doctor Who, The
Lord of the Rings, and Harry
Potter than it is for Japanese cosplayers. Similarly, animated series
may be the origin for many
recreations. Western costumers
also include subcultures of hobbyists who participate in Renaissance faires or the Society for
Creative Anachro-nism, and historical re-enactments such as
Civil War battles.